UCD took Dundalk all the way to a penalty shoot out before going out in an exciting game in Oriel Park. The home side had to dig deep after going behind in the first half however they proved to get top marks against the students from the penalty sp
UCD took Dundalk all the way to a penalty shoot out before going out in an exciting game in Oriel Park.
The home side had to dig deep after going behind in the first half however they proved to get top marks against the students from the penalty spot.
In a first half which showed plenty of action in front of goal but no clear cut chances, the students sent Oriel Park in silence with a brilliant strike from Gary O'Neill.
However from there it was very much one way traffic with Dundalk creating chance after chance with front man Ciaran Kilduff having one of those days a striker hates.
On another day he would have taken home two match day balls but Niall Corbet in the UCD goal denied him at every turn. When Dundalk were awarded a penalty Kilduff stepped up with confidence only for Corbet to deny him again with a brilliant save.
The equaliser did come with a great strike from Conor Clifford, the former Chelsea youth captain taking a leaf from the Frank Lampard school of football chested the ball down and slammed it home from the edge of the area.
Dundalk did have plenty of chances in extra time to seal the tie and Jamie McGrath did have the ball in the back of the net only for the linesman to deny him with offside. It was destined for penalties and after all five man penalty takes struck home, Madhy missed the penalty and sent Dundalk through.
